As far as music is concerned, Zelda 2 has some good themes, but every song in the game uses the same warbly instrument, compared with the variety found in Faxanadu.

Where does Zelda 2 beat it? Play control is smoother (though it’s no Castlevania game) and battles are more strategic, almost like a fighter.

Zelda 2 is one of my favorite games of all time but I still wouldn’t say that Faxanadu sucks in comparison. Faxanadu and Castlevania 2 both had a world and story that were much more developed than Zelda 2. In addition to that, both Faxanadu and Castlevania 2 have more detail and variety in their artwork, Zelda 2 uses the same tileset from the beginning to end.

Faxanadu’s gameplay isn’t as polished as Zelda 2′s, as I described in the review, but it makes up for that with the elaborate options you have to buy weapons, armor, and items. It also has a much better translation that Zelda 2′s.

I’m writing this to describe what gameplay elements were successful and what didn’t work out too well. Faxanadu is a game that not many people have played. But whenever I’ve brought it up to people that have played it, they always get super nostalgic “That was an awesome game!” It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it still had an experience that was rare to find back in the NES era.

I think it’s a shame that the only franchise that’s continue to develop this style of gameplay is really Konami and their Castlevania games. But even then their scope is incredibly limited by restraining the games to Dracula’s castle and the series’ heritage.

PS: I discovered another game similar to Faxanadu called The Battle of Olympus. I’d never heard of it until people commented on my review but it looks awesome! Definitely going to check it out.

Thanks for the comment Caleb!